Pariah
by Rikkamaru
Summary: Shinichi let everyone believe that he was Rejected, born without a pokemon partner, because he had believed that it would have been much worse if they had known the truth. Then he shrunk, and he wouldn't make that mistake again. One-shot, light ConanAi.


Don't own Detective Conan or Pokemon.

Pariah

* * *

Shinichi's parents knew, the moment that their son was born, that he would live an uncertain life. They looked on in worry at the child sleeping soundly in his crib, his breathing matched perfectly by the little creature lying next to him.

In their world, every person was born with a creature called a pokemon. They lived alongside them and, at some point in their lives, a second pokemon would appear before each human, further helping to represent who they are. The first pokemon would mysteriously appear as an egg when the child was born, and would hatch some months later.

Kudo Shinichi's parents were concerned, because the little pokemon that would be his first would leave a stigma on him that no one would be able to fully understand.

"What are we going to do, dear?" Yukiko asked fearfully, her Mawile wringing its hands while her Zoroark looked on curiously at her son and his pokemon.

"I don't know, Yukiko," Yusaku sighed, looking uncertain for the first time in a long while. His Persian and Liepard sniffed at the crib, the first as uncertain as his master while the second looked one, curious of her fellow Dark-type much like Zoroark. "We can't just tell him that his pokemon is wrong, and it truly isn't, but the uninformed will never understand that." He hugged his wife, both of them looking at the crib. "We can only hope for the best."

Unaware of their thoughts, the baby Absol slept soundly beside her master.

* * *

"There's nothing wrong with either Dark or Ghost-types." Shinichi refuted heatedly, looking on annoyed by his desk at the two students who had been arguing over which of the two was worse. The two looked over in surprise, and Shinichi scowled as he stood up, moving to go to lunch. As he was exiting the room, he said over his shoulder, "To claim that an entire type is bad because of a name or stereotype is foolish and uneducated."

The detective sighed in frustration as he sat down across from Sonoko and Ran, ignoring their conversation in favor of his thoughts.

This school was just filled with idiots. Especially the ones who couldn't see a pokemon beyond its type. And those were some of the worse people, behind criminals themselves, in his opinion.

He blinked as two flashes of light went off near him, but relaxed as Ran's Mienshao and Sonoko's Delcatty appeared, the latter running over to him excitedly while the former nodded to him in greeting. He smiled and scratched the Normal-type behind her ear, before looking at the two girls as Sonoko sighed in exasperation.

"Why does she even like you so much?" She pouted, her eyes annoyed as she looked on at the scene. "Even Lopunny looks excited every time you're around her!"

"Shinichi has just always been able to connect with pokemon, Sonoko-chan." Ran said in an attempt to appease her friend, who snorted bitterly at that.

"Weird for a person who was Rejected," she muttered bitterly, only for Ran's gasp to make her flinch.

"Sonoko! Don't say such things!" Shinichi's childhood friend exclaimed, but Shinichi had heard enough, and it made his smile turn a little too cold and a little too brittle to ever be real.

Rejected; that was the state or condition where a person never had a pokemon egg appear at their birth. It's led to multiple theories about what that implies about the person, each more ridiculous than the last. Some say that the Rejected were not meant to be born, others that no pokemon exists that could match their personality as children, still more said that the Rejected were born without souls which is thought to call the pokemon to them.

Rejected could later find their second pokemon, but the stigma never really left them, the name following them like a mark on their skin.

In truth Shinichi was not a Rejected, he in fact had both his first and second pokemon already. It was just easier to hide them from the public.

As much as he cared about finding the one truth, Shinichi would happily destroy anyone who spoke ill of his partners, never mind what that said about him.

* * *

Shinichi struggled to get up, his eyes refusing to open properly. 'I…I'm alive…? How?'

His ponderings were interrupted as his eyes finally opened all the way, and registered where he was. 'Alright, I'm in Tropical Land, but what is the last thing that I…' His eyes widened. 'The men in black! They hit me and forced me to take a drug! Did it not work?'

Checking himself for injury, he came across a frightening and confusing conclusion. 'I…shrunk…? Why…how…I need to get somewhere safe to figure out what to do for now.'

Struggling to his feet, Shinichi began the long struggle home, not willing to let his pokemon out until he was in a safe environment.

* * *

Somehow, Shinichi had slipped into his house, and was now dressed in his clothes from ten years previous. He would call Agasa in a moment, but first…

Shinichi took in a fortifying breath and released his pokemon. He blinked. "Absol…it seems that you've shrunk as well." She nodded in response to his words, looking somewhat confused, and he turned to the other. "And it looks like Houndoom has regressed back into a Houndour." The dark dog growled lowly at him, still suspicious.

Shinichi was confused for a moment, before blinking. "Did the drug change my scent slightly or something?" Absol nodded again, and Shinichi sighed before smiling at Houndour. "It's me, Shinichi, and I can prove it." He took off the jacket and shirt that he had slipped on and there, on the back of either shoulder, were the marks that had formed when he was claimed by them as their master.

The two pokemon looked at the interlocking black and white crescent moons that Absol had put on his right shoulder, and Houndour's red flame and black moon on his left shoulder in silence for a moment, before the two tackled him in their relief to see him alive.

Shinichi laughed, delighted to see the other two safe and recognizing him again.

* * *

Agasa was happy to help him, once the situation was explained to him and his Reuniclus and Claydol confirmed it, and after a little bit of verbal maneuvering Kudo Shinichi, one of the Rejected, was now Edogawa Conan, a child who already had both of his pokemon, though they were both one of the more controversial types.

He was also living with Ran, and was relieved to see that none of her pokemon could recognize him, his scent just off enough to convince them that he was a completely different person, if related to Shinichi in some way.

Seeing Kogoro's Toxicroak and Nidoking like him even more without Kogoro insistent dislike hanging over him was rather hilarious, though he kept his hysterical laughter to himself until he was alone in his new room. Absol and Houndour seemed equally amused, if the small chuffing sounds they were making were anything to go by.

He also had to go to Elementary school again, much to his ire. The only bright side in that regard was that, with his pokemon already revealed, he could let them out during lunch and after school if he wanted.

He also made three new friends, who showed an admirable disregard for the type his pokemon had. Ayumi and her Togepi, Mitsuhiko and his Abra, and Genta and his Teddiursa were his first friends outside of Ran to befriend him without expecting anything in return, outside of perhaps an adventure or two. Though Ayumi had started with a crush on him, she instinctively lost it when she saw his pokemon, her wariness of Dark-types overriding her interest in Conan.

Mitsuhiko and Genta, at first a little abrasive, dropped their hostility towards him when Ayumi lost interest in him. Mitsuhiko was rather jittery around him from time to time, but Conan figured that it was more due to his Psychic-type not being comfortable around Absol and Houndour yet than anything else. Genta was rather oblivious overall of the situation, and Conan appreciated it.

If he had to guess, Conan figured that Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta would receive a Fairy, Psychic, and Fighting-type respectively when the time came.

Time went on, and Conan came to love the freedom he now had, with his pokemon at his side and the Shounen Tanteidan at his back.

After he found the men in black, he might just remain a child.

* * *

Conan hated his parents sometimes, he really did.

Honestly, he gets turned into a kid and they think it would be a great idea to just dress up like the men in black, and proceed to scare the ever-living hell out of him.

And once again, Conan couldn't help but feel as if he were the adult in his family.

"Come with us, son," his father was saying, Liepard watching from the bed, "you aren't safe here. Come with us to America."

"I can't," he replied instantly, his hand on Absol's back as Houndour lay by his feet.

"Ohhhh?" his mother drew out, eyes teasing as she looked at him, her Zoroark looking amused as he sat nearby in the form of a Mightyena. "And why's that, Shin-chan? Is it because of a girl?"

"Of course not," he scoffed, inwardly frowning. His mother had always wanted him to end up with Ran, and maybe in another world he could have, but if he hated one thing – other than incompetence, of course – it was pity, and Ran had an irritating habit of looking at him like that every time someone mentioned him being a Rejected.

He loved Ran, but not in a romantic fashion and he doubted that he could.

Yukiko frowned, obviously not believing her son, but Yusaku nodded in acceptance. "Very well," the author sighed, having expected that from his son. "Can you at least tell us why you want to stay?" Yusaku had an idea, but he wanted to be certain.

"I want to catch the men in black," was the first response, obviously his primary reason for remaining. "Also…" here he hesitated, looking at his pokemon what could only be considered a happiness that he had been denied for years, even if it was by his own hand, "I finally feel free, tou-san. I can finally smile and play and just _be_ with my pokemon, in a way that I couldn't as Shinichi, because I had wanted to protect them when we could have just protected each other together. I can't lose that now."

Yukiko looked shocked, and in no small amount guilty and Yusaku felt the same. If they had just told Shinichi to do as he wanted, and not warned him against showing others his pokemon, maybe this wouldn't have been the case.

But it was, and nothing would change Shinichi's mind now, not after being truly happy for the first time in a long time.

* * *

A new student arrived today. Haibara Ai, Conan reminded himself, careful not to look directly at her to give away his thoughts. She went with the Shounen Tanteidan and helped solve the case, but throughout the entire case, even as they were held at gunpoint, Conan kept his pokemon in their pokeballs, something telling him that he would need to keep them hidden for now.

Of course, once she had confronted him in front of Agasa-hakase's house, that instinct made much more sense. She tried tormenting him, calling him Shinichi over and over again, and then she sent out her pokemon.

The puzzle pieces began sliding into place as he gazed at her Vulpix and Ralts; she was, after all, the only other person he knew their "age" that had two pokemon as well. "Kudo Shinichi," Haibara began, looking bored and as if she was reading aloud from a report. "Age 16, known as the Great Detective of the East, and also a known Rejected."

Conan smirked then, hiding his eyes behind flashing glasses. "I think you may have the wrong person, then."

"Oh?" She asked, condescending. "And why is that?"

"Because," he shrugged easily, relaxing as he heard two forms stalk up behind him. "I'm not Rejected."

The look on her face was priceless.

* * *

"So you were a part of the Black Organization, and were the one to develop the…APTX I believe you called it." He said, petting Houndour gently as his eyes stayed on Haibara, her story being recorded carefully into the archive of his mind.

She met his gaze carefully, obviously still trying to accept that her information on him was flawed. "Correct, but before I continue, I have to know. How did you hide your pokemon from everyone?"

"Easy," he shrugged, his hands moving to Absol as his memories took over. "My parents told me that other people fear and hate Absol, because few remember that Absol sense disaster and go to try and prevent it, rather than the assumption that Absol are the ones that cause the disaster. I was young, and really foolish that time around, and decided to hide that I had an Absol, because I was afraid of what they would do to her. Then Houndour appeared around the end of my middle school years, and I hid him too. Since no one had ever seen me with a pokemon, they just assumed that I was Rejected, and I didn't deny it."

Haibara nodded in understanding, and watched as Vulpix walked over to Conan, her eyes curious as she sniffed at him. He smiled and stroked her back, much to the Vulpix's delight, before settling her on his lap to pet her better. Haibara watched as her first pokemon relaxed completely against the mysterious boy who surprised her at every turn, and smiled.

Things could only get interesting from here on.

* * *

Well, I have no idea where this came from, but I rather like it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them, and I'll answer them as quickly as possible.

Please review.

Ja ne!


End file.
